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Members of the Australian Federal Police board a plane for the NT in late June 2007, shortly after the federal government announced plans to seize control of Aboriginal communities in the Territory. (AAP Image) |
Rushed intervention resulted in protocol gaps, inquest hears
Issue 179 - 11 Jun 2009
By Tara Ravens
NATIONAL, June 18, 2009: The hasty rollout of police stations as part of the federal intervention into remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory meant standard protocols were overlooked, a coronial inquest has heard.
NT Coroner Greg Cavanagh is investigating the death of a young Aboriginal man, believed to have shot himself in the head after escaping from custody on August 21 last year.
The 22-year-old's body was found under a tree in Arnhem Land the following morning, about 10km from the police station at the remote community of Bulman.
The young man, who cannot be named for cultural reasons, had been taken into custody for breaching bail conditions that prevented him from having contact with his 15-year-old promised wife.
At a coronial inquest in Katherine on Wednesday, Acting Superintendent of the Katherine District, Steve Hayworth, conceded the Bulman station did not have a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) manual.
The community had not had a permanent police presence until 2007, when the station was built as part of the emergency intervention to combat child sex abuse.
"None of the stations had standard operating procedures," Supt Hayworth told the inquest.
"It was completely an oversight by the department ... not one of us realised."
Supt Hayworth said the intervention police stations were built within a short period of time and manned by officers on brief posting from interstate or Australian Federal Police.
"This was a result of the physical rollout of these stations under a short time frame with officers who were only there for a period of three to six months," he said.
"To fully develop SOPs and to have a working relationship with the community you need a longer period of time."
Mr Cavanagh will consider the legitimacy of the young man's arrest as well as police training in Indigenous culture and mental health.
He said the issue of SOPs was "peripheral" to the inquest. - AAP
 
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